Union garment.



No. 788,521. PATENTED MAY 2, 1905.

. G. OB. COOK.

' UNION GARMENT.

APPLIUATION FILED APR. 4.1902- 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

No. 788,521. PATENTED MAY 2, 1905. G. OB. 000K.

UNION GARMENT.

APPLICATION FILED APR.4.1902.

2 SEEETSSHEBT 2.

Was. fweww.

UNITED STATES Patented May 2, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

GERALDINE OBRIEN COOK, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO STERLING KNIT GOODS COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

UNION GARMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent No, 788,521, dated May 2, 1905.

I Application filed April 4, 1902. Serial No. 101,309.

f mil mil/0191 it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GERALDINE OBEIEN CooK, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Boston, county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Union Garments, of which -the following description, in connection with 'the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like characters on the drawings representing like parts. i

This invention relates more particularly to union undergarments so knitted and constructed that while seams are reduced to a minimum the necessary fullness is provided I 5 in those parts of the garment where fullness is required.

Certain union garments are made up in halves sewed together at the back with a vertical or longitudinal seam from the neck down the back to below the waist, back flaps tapering to a point at their upper ends being inserted at the back of the garment and below the waist-line to gain the necessary fullness across the back of the hip portion of the 2 5 garment and to cover the-opening at the back between the leg-covering portions.

A union garment without a seam at the back forms the subject-matter of United States PatentNo. 527,216, dated October 9,

0 1894, and in manufacturing such garment three separate pieces are knitviz., two main pieces each comprehending a leg-covering portion and a front having a waist-start, -with looped edges pointing toward the top of the garment and a doubled-over or two-ply back flap. The loops at the waist-start and at the top of the back flap are picked onto the needles of the knitting-machine, which may be of the Lamb type, and the knitting of a fourth 4b piece is begun to constitute the back of the waist and back of the body portion of the garment, the knitting of the back of the waist uniting all three pieces without a seam at the back and without putting a tapered or any pointed gore in the waist at the back. In order to prevent distorting the shape of the garment when inserting the back flap, thereby improperly increasing the waist measure and the width across the back when providing for the requisite fullness across the hips, the loops of the back flap have been consolidated onto a less number of needles when picking on, and such consolidation may also be employed when picking on the waiststarts. This operation of picking on the back flap and waist-starts is manifestly a separate operation and adds to the cost of the garment, while the output of garments from a given plant is decreased, owing to the additional time which must be put into the manufacture of each garment.

A union garment made in accordance with my invention comprises a body, connected leg-covering portions, and a two-ply back flap, the upper end of the back flap being united to the body and one edge of each legcovering portion in a rentermg angle formed at the junction of the body with the leg-covering portion. Inasmuch as the back flap can be made as one piece of fabric and doubled over upon itself or in two separate pieces superposed one upon the other, I have used the term two-ply in connection with the back flap, meaning thereby to cover a back flap whether in one piece doubled over or in two separate pieces.

The various novel features of myinvention will be hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the following claims.

Figure 1 is a front view of one type of union garment containing one embodiment of my invention. Fig. 2 is a back view thereof. Figs. 3 and 4 are views of the two main parts or halves of the garment in accordance with the preferred form of construction. Fig. 5 8 5 is a plan view of a back flap of the kind which is to be doubled over upon itself knit in one piece. Fig. 6 shows the two-ply back piece either doubled over on the line 9c, Fig. 5, or of two separate pieces superposed; and Fig. 7 0 shows the two main parts of the garment united along the back seam and with the back flap united thereto.

I prefer to knit my garment on a knittingmachine of the Lamb type, run to knit a flat 95 web, the latter being widened and narrowed as may be necessary to give the requisite shape and dimensions to the garment, the machine having two rows of needles, with as many needles in each row as there are loops to be made in the widest course of knitting to be produced in any of the pieces of which the garment is composed. Inasmuch as the garment comprises two main pieces or halves A B, alike, except that one is a right and the other a left, produced in like manner, save that the one is the reverse of the other, I shall specifically describe but one half, as A, referring more particularly to Fig. 3. I may begin said part or half either at the top or at the bottom, as may be most convenient, each part comprehending a leg-covering portion and a connected body, the latter consisting of a front and one-half of the back, and on the inner longitudinal edge of each part at the junction of the body and the leg-covering portion I form a rentrant angle or lateral offset to thereby present a transverse shoulder or edge at the bottom of the back for a purpose to be described. If I begin knittin at the bottom, I set up on both rows of needles in usual manner enough loops to start the bottom of the ankle and knit from a to b, forming the top of the ankle. Additional needles are then thrown in at each side to widen the web from b to c to fit the calf of the leg, and from c to d the Web may be knit of substantially uniform width; but at d I gradually widen, preferably at one selvage edgeviz., that one which is to come at the front of the garmentthis widening extending from d to e to provide an ample covering for the larger part of the thigh and front of the body. So far the knitting of the web is similar to that described in the patent referred to, and from the point e to the line 6 e the web may be knit of substantially uniform width. Beginning at e on the inner edge of the web, however, I preferably narrow, the web decreasing in width from c e toff, which is substantially at the bottom of the waist, and then I throw in a number of additional needles at one side to increase the width of the web by the distance from f to f This is an important step in my invention, as I thereby form a re'e'ntrant portion or angle f e in the inner edge of the main piece or half substantially at the unction of the body and the leg-covering portion, or, in other words, the said edge islaterally offset from the longitudinal center of the back to leave a transverse edge at the bottom of the back, as will clearly appear and for a purpose to be described. The fabric from d tof f is seamless and made sufficiently broad by widening at the desired portions to fit about the hip and afford all the room required, the size desired at such part being readily provided by widening more or less from d to 6. From f f 2 to g g, the

line of the top of the waist, I prefer to knit a two-and-one rib, which is accomplished in well-known manner, such ribbing effecting a contraction of the fabric for the waist, and thereafter from the line 9 g I knit with plain knitting the web of uniform width to the point h, making the front or bust covering part F of the body and the back part B I run the fabric off from the needles at h h and then continue knitting to the upper end of the web of uniform Width, usually to 1' L, and run off the remaining needles, the part II of the web forming the shoulder-cover and being overlapped by the front part F when the garment is completed, as shown in Fig. 1. In knitting from g to h I may narrow gradually, if desired, as along the dotted line 10 12, or this edge may be out if a cheaper grade of garment is being made. A longitudinal cut it h is made in the web to form the arm-scye, and the sleeve is secured therein in any suitable manner.

It will be manifest to those skilled in the art that if I begin knitting at i i the web will be of uniform width to 7L, and then additional needles will be thrown in before knitting to the ribbed waist portion, and when the latter is completed a certain number of needles will be run off to form the transverse edge f f with a subsequent gradual widening along the inner edge from f to 6 the manner of completing the leg being obvious. So, too, instead of fashioning the web, as described, to form the rentrant part or anglef f e the web can be knit of uniform width between e e andf f and then out along the edge e f. The width of the edge f f 2 is equal to onehalf the width of the upper end of the back flap, and it will be manifest that this width can be increased or decreased as desired with out in the least varying the total distance between the points f f so that the width of the back flap is not dependent in any way upon nor will it change the waist measure of the garment. It will be observed that each half of the garment has thus been made without any picking on or any consolidating or doubling up of stitches, while I have provided a fashioned garment and have made the requisite provision for the insertion of the back flap. The latter, if made in one piece, as at D, Fig. 5, may be commenced at one end and gradually widened and then knitted for some distance of uniform width and then again narrowed and widened, then knitted again of uniform width and again narrowed rather abruptly to make a second pointed end, but oppositely tapered from the first end. Such a back flap when used will be folded over on the line 90 at, Fig. 5, and its upper end will be united by sewing or by a looper, if (lGSII GCI, to the two transverse edges f f, the garment halves having previously been united along the longitudinal edges f "i by a central back seam, as shown in Fig. 7. Preferably each ply of the back flap will be widened from its upper end to the line 3 4, the number of courses depending on the length of the side f e of the reentrant angle described, and from 3 4 to the point 5 the width of the ply is substantially uniform, the end tapering quite rapidly from,5 to the tip 6. When the top of the back flap has been united to the garment, the side edge 00 4 of each ply is attached to the adjacent edge e of the leg-covering portion, and the straight side edge 4 6 of the back flap is united to the continuation of the inner edge of the leg, as shown in Fig. 7, the leg being completed by stitching the two selvages together from the point a to about the point 01, at which the lower point 6 of the back flap is met. The leg-covering portions in Fig. 7 are shown as laid out flat, while in Figs. 1 and 2 the completed garment is shown, and by referring to Fig. 7 it will be seen that when the outwardlyinclined edge a; 4 of the back flap is united to the oppositely-inclined part f e of the inner edge of the adjacent leg-covering portion the fabric thereof will be given a fullness or increased in width across the back of the hips, where such fullness is most necessary, without the sli htest increase of the waist measure, the fu llness being indicated by curving the outer edge of the leg-covering portion at f This is also clearly shown in the completed garment shown in Fig. 2.

By the construction shown and described the operation of making the garment is 1na terially simplified and its cost reduced, while at the same time the desirable features of the garment made as in the patent referred to are retained.

The two plies or layers of the back flap smoothly overlie one another and thoroughly cover the opening at the back of the hip portion of the garment without in any way interfering with the comfort of the wearer.

Referring to Fig. 1, the two front portions F areshown as united by a longitudinal central seam from 30 to 40, the longitudinal edges h 6 being united from the neck downward, and buttons or other separable fastenings b are shown at the bottom of the seam 3O 40; but so far as my present invention is concerned the particular form or character parting from the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having fully described my invention,what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A union garment comprising a body, connected leg-covering portions each having a rentrant angle at its inner edge at the juncture of the body with the leg-covering portion, the outer side of said angle extending diagonally from its junction with the body to the straight part of the inner edge of the leg-covering portion, and a two-ply back flap united at its upper end to the body substantially at the bottom of the waist and to one edge of each leg-covering portion, along the diagonal sides of the two reentrant an 0 es.

6 2. A union garment comprising a body having a central, longitudinal and straight back seam, connected leg-covering portions the inner, longitudinal edges of which at their upper ends are laterally offset from the central seam at their junction with the body, to present a transverse edge at the bottom of the back, each leg-covering portion gradually increasing in width at its inner edge below said transverse edge, and a two-ply back flap, the upper end and one side edge of each ply being united respectively to said transverse edge and to the inner edge of one of said leg-covering portions.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GERALDINE OBRIEN COOK.

Witnesses:

JOHN G. EDwARns, N. H. COTTLE. 

